Version 1.0 - Last Updated: 25 Oct 2023

Creating a part-time undergraduate course

Course credits and intensity


For part-time courses, you must enter the number of credits students will gain when they complete the entire course. This will let us accurately assess their eligibility for Part-time Maintenance Loan funding.

You must not enter the number of credits students get in an individual academic year.

For example, when you upload a 3 year honours degree, please enter 360 credits. This is the total course credits a student would receive for their entire course. You will find a table with examples of common course credits and their corresponding course durations on the Common credits for a full course page.

A common error is attributing no credit value to foundation or placement years. Integral foundation, study abroad and work placement years are not a requirement to receive the honours degree. We understand that they do not traditionally have a credit value attached because of this. However, we need one to accurately assess the student’s support entitlement.

You should add an additional standard year's worth of credits to the course in this case.

Common credits for a full course

The table below gives examples of the most common credit values for an entire course. These are based on the Framework for Higher Education Qualifications (FHEQ). This is the credit system we expect you to use on CMS.

Under FHEQ a year of full-time study generally gives 120 credits, but this is not always the case. The information you submit on CMS must be correct for the individual course as we'll use it to assess the students' eligibility and entitlement.

 

Ordinary full-time duration (years)

Course qualification

Expected credits (based on FHEQ)

1

Certificate of Higher Education (CertHE)

120

Higher National Certificate (HNC)

Honours degree (1-year top-up)

Honours degree (1-year intercalation)

Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE)

60

2

Diploma of Higher Education (DipHE)

240

Higher National Diploma (HND)

Foundation degree

Honours degree (2-year top-up)

Honours degree (condensed)

360

3

Ordinary degree

300-360

Honours degree (full course)

360

4

Honours degree (with integral foundation year)

480

Honours degree (with integral placement year)

Honours degree (with abroad year)

Integrated master’s degree

480

5

Honours degree (with integral foundation year and integral placement year)

600

Honours degree (with integral foundation year and study abroad year)

 

We appreciate that integral foundation, study abroad and work placement years do not traditionally have a credit value attached as it is not a requirement to receive the honours degree (under FHEQ). However, we need one to accurately assess the student’s support entitlement.

Whilst we have used a nominal amount of 120 credits in the table above, the non-standard year should reflect the same credits as a standard year of the course.

Example

If an honours degree is 390 credits over 3 years, we'd expect a 4-year version including a non-standard year (foundation, study abroad or work placement) to be 520 credits (390 + 1 year at 130 credits).

CMS will not let you save a course with a credit value of less than 20 or greater than 600.


Course intensity calculation for a Part-time Maintenance Loan

Students must be studying at a course intensity of at least 25% to qualify for a Maintenance Loan.

When they apply, they'll need to know the number of credits they'll gain in the academic year. We use this to calculate their course intensity. The intensity determines their entitlement.

The information on this page explains how we calculate it. It also explains how both the course duration and credits affect the end result.


How we calculate course intensity

Full-time equivalent (FTE) course credits divided by the number of FTE course years = full-time credit (for the year)

The number of credits the student will gain in this academic year = part-time credit (for the year)

(Part-time credit / full-time credit) X 100 = intensity of study (%)


Calculation scenarios

Scenario 1

Ryan is studying a part-time honours degree with a full-time equivalent duration of 3 years. The entire course gives 360 credits. In this academic year he'll get 80 credits. Ryan’s course intensity is calculated as:

360 / 3 = 120

80 / 120 x 100 = 67%

 

Scenario 2

Beth is studying a part-time HND with a full-time equivalent duration of 2 years. The entire course gives 240 credits. In this academic year Beth will get 60 credits. Beth’s course intensity is calculated as:

240 / 2 = 120

60 / 120 x 100 = 50%

 

Scenario 3

Jo is studying a part-time bachelor’s degree with a full-time equivalent duration of 3 years. The entire course gives 300 credits. In this academic year Jo will get 40 credits. Jo’s course intensity is calculated as:

300 / 3 = 100

40 / 100 x 100 = 40%